Network devices, such as network switches, are used to transport data packets through computer networks. Network devices can receive data packets and, based on information in each data packet, such as an address, forward the data packet to an appropriate different network device. Modern network devices can concurrently forward a large number of differing types of packets per second to many different destinations. To support such functionality, network devices can be exceedingly complex and may be difficult to troubleshoot, validate, and/or debug, especially when deployed within a computer network and actively forwarding data packets. Thus, there is a need for improvement in the field of network devices.